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Kaeti Hinck/The Mirror
Syrian Ambassador !mad Moustapha visited campus on Tuesday to discuss issues in the Middle East for a packed Siverson Lounge.
Mark Foley
THE AUGUSTANA
Friday MIRROR Vol. XCV
November 10, 2006 No. 7
ESTABLISHED 19081 SIOUX FALLS, S.D.
Sen. Johnson speaks on campus Courses discuss
By Kaeti Hinck hot controversies
Mirror Co-Editor
Mere minutes after for-mer
Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld an-nounced
his resignation,
U.S. Senator Tim Johnson,
D-S.D., offered Augustana
students his response to the
shifting political landscape
in the country.
He spoke to GOVT 335
Wednesday about a variety
of national and local issues,
including the Farm Bill, al-ternative
energy sources,
increasing the minimum
wage, education and party
unity.
"Nothing energizes unity
like a good long stint in the
minority," Johnson said.
Johnson said dissatisfac-tion
with current political
trends was evident in the
backlash seen in state elec- "
tions, and America seems
to be moving toward a more
centrist agenda.
"We need to come back
to the middle a little bit,"
Johnson said.
"It was valuable to hear
the perspective of someone
in the field," senior govern-ment
major Chapman Rie-del
said. "He brought a tell-ing
point of view." Sen. Tim Johnson
By Danielle
Messerschmidt
Mirror Guest Writer
Hot-button political
issues have found their
way into several courses
at Augustana this semes-ter.
The in-formation
provided in
these classes
helps students
form opinions
about politics
and ethics
in the world
around them.
Commu-Rebecca Ogren
nications pro-fessor
Heather Bart's
COMM 270: "Advocacy
and Argumentation" has
discussed a number of
controversial subjects
ranging from legalizing
prostitution and making
a weight limit for models
to dependency on for-eign
oil and the current
genocide happening in
the Darfur region of Su-dan.
The mission of the
class is to get students
interested in current af-fairs
and to prepare them
to argue for their beliefs
in a reasonable and intel-ligent
way.
Students spend class
time discussing various
current issues with the
ultimate goal of debating
the pros and cons of one
major issue
at the end of
the semester.
Though
Bart said her
main goal is
to get stu-dents
to be
passionate
about cur-rent
events,
she believes
that passion
alone is not enough.
"I think an educated
person should be able to
argue," Bart said. "You
need to recognize when
the other side has a good
argument and when you
have a bad one. Passion is
great, but you need to be
grounded in reason and
have respect for people
with different opinions:'
Junior Rebecca Ogren
said she is excited about
future discussions in the
course.
See ISSUES, page 12
Admin plans dances to reduce alcohol abuse
Even though some students decide
to drink before heading to dances,
these events are exactly where admin-istration
wants intoxicated students.
According to Jeff Venekamp, di-rector
of student activities, dances
are set to a "harm reduction model,"
meaning that they are structured to
keep students safe rather than fueling
any alcohol use.
"If [someone has] too much,
there's sober people there responsible
to help them," Venekamp said.
According to Tracy Riddle, as-sociate
dean of students, the notion
of harm reduction stemmed from a
video conference featuring late-night
programs at colleges. Breakfasts and
the dances themselves are prime ex-amples
of harm reduction.
"[It's] really intentional," Riddle
said. "What we're attempting to do is
to get people back onto campus."
While dances are fairly common-place,
the breakfasts are a fairly new
implementation, starting only six
years ago.
Riddle said that dances used to be
a burden and frustration for hall di-rectors.
In the past, when dances would
finish, students would flock back to
See DANCES, page 11
Crystal Pettit/The Mirror
Students celebrate Halloween with a dance in the Back Alley.
By Karyn Schubert
Mirror Co-Editor
Students weigh risks in light of D.C. scandal
By Alex George
Mirror Guest Writer
The recent scandal involv-ing
Congressman Mark Foley,
R-Fla., has once again brought
to the forefront the risks for stu-dents
considering political in-ternships
in Washington, D.C.
"We do everything we can to
ensure the safety and well-being
of our students," Career Cen-ter
Director Sandi Vietor said.
Most of the internship programs
to which Augustana sends stu-dents
are with groups or indi-viduals
trusted by the college.
Often, these groups have done
work with the college in the past
or are well-known to Augustana
faculty, Vietor said.
Government and interna-tional
affairs assistant professor
Brent Lerseth works with stu-dents
to coordinate internships
in D.C. He also considers Au-gustana's
internship program to
be very safe.
"The college perspective is to
make sure that any student from
our institution that is involved
in a political setting is in a safe
environment," Lerseth said.
The Foley scandal exemplifies
the risks for a student working
as an intern or page in Washing-ton,
D.C. In late September, the
representative resigned his of-fice
after allegations that he sent
sexually explicit instant messag-es
and e-mails to Congressional
pages.
Howev-er,
Lerseth
has no wor-ries
regard-ing
these
risks.
"This is
a fairly iso-lated
event,"
Lerseth said.
"There's probably been, within
the last 20 years, maybe two
See SCANDAL, page 12
Three reasons you
should read this issue:
1 Wal-Mart or Target?
You decide.
Page 3
2 The Comedy of Errors
receives rave review.
Page 5
3 A look at Tholen
beyond the race
Page 9

Kaeti Hinck/The Mirror
Syrian Ambassador !mad Moustapha visited campus on Tuesday to discuss issues in the Middle East for a packed Siverson Lounge.
Mark Foley
THE AUGUSTANA
Friday MIRROR Vol. XCV
November 10, 2006 No. 7
ESTABLISHED 19081 SIOUX FALLS, S.D.
Sen. Johnson speaks on campus Courses discuss
By Kaeti Hinck hot controversies
Mirror Co-Editor
Mere minutes after for-mer
Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld an-nounced
his resignation,
U.S. Senator Tim Johnson,
D-S.D., offered Augustana
students his response to the
shifting political landscape
in the country.
He spoke to GOVT 335
Wednesday about a variety
of national and local issues,
including the Farm Bill, al-ternative
energy sources,
increasing the minimum
wage, education and party
unity.
"Nothing energizes unity
like a good long stint in the
minority," Johnson said.
Johnson said dissatisfac-tion
with current political
trends was evident in the
backlash seen in state elec- "
tions, and America seems
to be moving toward a more
centrist agenda.
"We need to come back
to the middle a little bit,"
Johnson said.
"It was valuable to hear
the perspective of someone
in the field," senior govern-ment
major Chapman Rie-del
said. "He brought a tell-ing
point of view." Sen. Tim Johnson
By Danielle
Messerschmidt
Mirror Guest Writer
Hot-button political
issues have found their
way into several courses
at Augustana this semes-ter.
The in-formation
provided in
these classes
helps students
form opinions
about politics
and ethics
in the world
around them.
Commu-Rebecca Ogren
nications pro-fessor
Heather Bart's
COMM 270: "Advocacy
and Argumentation" has
discussed a number of
controversial subjects
ranging from legalizing
prostitution and making
a weight limit for models
to dependency on for-eign
oil and the current
genocide happening in
the Darfur region of Su-dan.
The mission of the
class is to get students
interested in current af-fairs
and to prepare them
to argue for their beliefs
in a reasonable and intel-ligent
way.
Students spend class
time discussing various
current issues with the
ultimate goal of debating
the pros and cons of one
major issue
at the end of
the semester.
Though
Bart said her
main goal is
to get stu-dents
to be
passionate
about cur-rent
events,
she believes
that passion
alone is not enough.
"I think an educated
person should be able to
argue," Bart said. "You
need to recognize when
the other side has a good
argument and when you
have a bad one. Passion is
great, but you need to be
grounded in reason and
have respect for people
with different opinions:'
Junior Rebecca Ogren
said she is excited about
future discussions in the
course.
See ISSUES, page 12
Admin plans dances to reduce alcohol abuse
Even though some students decide
to drink before heading to dances,
these events are exactly where admin-istration
wants intoxicated students.
According to Jeff Venekamp, di-rector
of student activities, dances
are set to a "harm reduction model,"
meaning that they are structured to
keep students safe rather than fueling
any alcohol use.
"If [someone has] too much,
there's sober people there responsible
to help them," Venekamp said.
According to Tracy Riddle, as-sociate
dean of students, the notion
of harm reduction stemmed from a
video conference featuring late-night
programs at colleges. Breakfasts and
the dances themselves are prime ex-amples
of harm reduction.
"[It's] really intentional," Riddle
said. "What we're attempting to do is
to get people back onto campus."
While dances are fairly common-place,
the breakfasts are a fairly new
implementation, starting only six
years ago.
Riddle said that dances used to be
a burden and frustration for hall di-rectors.
In the past, when dances would
finish, students would flock back to
See DANCES, page 11
Crystal Pettit/The Mirror
Students celebrate Halloween with a dance in the Back Alley.
By Karyn Schubert
Mirror Co-Editor
Students weigh risks in light of D.C. scandal
By Alex George
Mirror Guest Writer
The recent scandal involv-ing
Congressman Mark Foley,
R-Fla., has once again brought
to the forefront the risks for stu-dents
considering political in-ternships
in Washington, D.C.
"We do everything we can to
ensure the safety and well-being
of our students," Career Cen-ter
Director Sandi Vietor said.
Most of the internship programs
to which Augustana sends stu-dents
are with groups or indi-viduals
trusted by the college.
Often, these groups have done
work with the college in the past
or are well-known to Augustana
faculty, Vietor said.
Government and interna-tional
affairs assistant professor
Brent Lerseth works with stu-dents
to coordinate internships
in D.C. He also considers Au-gustana's
internship program to
be very safe.
"The college perspective is to
make sure that any student from
our institution that is involved
in a political setting is in a safe
environment," Lerseth said.
The Foley scandal exemplifies
the risks for a student working
as an intern or page in Washing-ton,
D.C. In late September, the
representative resigned his of-fice
after allegations that he sent
sexually explicit instant messag-es
and e-mails to Congressional
pages.
Howev-er,
Lerseth
has no wor-ries
regard-ing
these
risks.
"This is
a fairly iso-lated
event,"
Lerseth said.
"There's probably been, within
the last 20 years, maybe two
See SCANDAL, page 12
Three reasons you
should read this issue:
1 Wal-Mart or Target?
You decide.
Page 3
2 The Comedy of Errors
receives rave review.
Page 5
3 A look at Tholen
beyond the race
Page 9